Hawken – a cool multiplayer PC game

It’s been a while since I’ve found an awesome game, worth spreading the word about.. but, lucky me, I just did. I usually go for realistic simulators; be it car racing or helicopter piloting, if it has cool graphics and it really makes me put some effort into the game – while really keeping me happy and entertained – I’m hooked. This is the case with HAWKEN.

HAWKEN is a free-to-play – at least for now, being an “open beta” (a.k.a. soft opening) – multiplayer PC game. You find yourself strapped in inside a mechanized robotic war machine, fighting for survival on a dystopian world.

Obviously, I wouldn’t bother you with a simple, boring, first person shooter. This is a strategic, fast-paced game that features incredible alien landscapes, customizable and upgradable mechs, and dynamic gameplay across multiple competitive game modes – 4 of them, to be precise.

Those cool robots the game offers are called “mechs”. HAWKEN offers pilots numerous mechs in three different weight classes – light, medium and heavy – that fill a variety of distinct roles on the battlefield. Initially, in the game, you receive a medium mech with no upgrades whatsoever, so you mostly die every other minute – nothing comes for free in this game; but don’t worry, you’ll get a chance to climb up the “scales” because the game’s got an interesting and very well balanced system of rewarding your efforts. Which means you eventually get to buy every mech you can get your hands on; even cooler, the game enables you to test drive different models before making a decision. Find the mechs that match your play style and study the strengths and weaknesses of enemy mechs in a comprehensive mech guide available on the official website.

HAWKEN allows you to change your equipment, to customize and upgrade your mechs. You can switch out your primary weapon for one better suited to your skills and temperament, or equip useful items you can deploy in battle to gain an edge over your opponents. When choosing weapons you must take into consideration their damage effects, drawbacks and amount of heating it causes while active – a disabled weapon due to overheating is not a cool way to die.

Every mech in HAWKEN has a unique ability that sets it apart from all the rest. These abilities define the distinctive nature of each mech – some have the ability to instantly cool down weapons, some repair themselves, others become invisible and disappear off the radar for a short period of time, etc. – and ability icons are displayed over players in battle to help identify mechs at a glance, which could prove quite useful but also demands an on-the-fly analysis and decision making process.

The developing team constantly updates the game, and the game updates itself automatically on start-up. The game is available for download on the official website, for free, and is easily installed. Any questions you might have is answered by the information available on the Hawken website.

There’s a gameplay example below, but nothing can prepare you and show you the awesomeness of this game. I’ve been playing this game for a couple of months now, and I’m telling you its possibilities are endless, and I doubt you could ever get bored; I think it will be worth the money, when the time comes. My Hawken id is “neo1984″, so you’ll know who is kickin your a$$!